A Peaceful Moment
by Electronic-Star
Summary: Natasha couldn't find Clint & Bruce finds her in the rain and tries to comfort her.


**Sublimeglittertimetravel** requested: Hi! I was wondering maybe if you could write a missing scene based on the trailer? Maybe after the Scene where Natasha is outside in the rain and Bruce comforts her ?

**A Peaceful Moment**

People say time's healing wounds, but that's a lie. Enough time passed after Thanos just snapped away billions of lives in the universe, yet it still felt like it happened yesterday. The team —or rather what's left of it— helped as best as they could, obviously putting their own needs to deal with this behind everything else.

They didn't really have time to slow down and talk about this, since they went to different places of the world to help. While they did that they found an old pager that belonged to Fury —as they found out later. It was sending a signal and for a long time they didn't know what's gonna happen next. Till Carol showed up out of nowhere asking where Fury was.

So they got one pair of helping hands more and the world began to recover in a slightly faster pace. This gave Natasha the time to find out if Clint's okay. The others said he might have turned to dust as well, but she still wanted to know if it's really true or if he just chose to stay hidden.

The others knew of her plan, but didn't stop her. Not that she would let anyone stop her. But after weeks of searching she couldn't find him. Not even Laura and the kids...Still she double checked to be completely sure.

And now she's back at the Avengers Facility. But even though it's raining and she felt exhausted, she didn't feel like going in yet. She was soaked anyway, so who cared if she stayed in the rain a bit longer? Nat just sat down on a wet bench and stared at the ground. Even though it looked like Clint and his family were gone, she still couldn't believe it. Well, actually they were her family, too. They were the first and closest thing to a family she ever had since the Red Room.

The redhead looked up when the raindrops suddenly stopped falling on her. Bruce was at her side, holding a big umbrella above them both. "Hey." He greeted, while Natasha looked back down. "Hey..." Bruce joined her on the bench, obviously not caring if his pants get wet. "I take it you didn't find them?" He asked then, sounding both apologetic and sad. There was no need to answer this, though. If she found them she'd surely wouldn't look like this. Or wouldn't have come back alone.

"I'm sorry, Nat." Said redhead just nodded. This was the first time they actually had a calm moment to talk. The months after the snap were just too stressful for all of them. They were probably the only people who couldn't stop and think about what happened. And how things will go on for now.

She and Bruce couldn't even talk about the time he left. They still had a lot to talk about...And this time no one could get away because of an alien invasion. "I can't believe they're gone."

"Are you really sure about this? Maybe they're hiding at a place not even you can find?" There was still a possibility that Bruce was right, but...Most of the time she's always been able to find him. Nat wished she could say she hoped so, but at this point it was hard to hope anything.

"Maybe." Was all she said, still not looking at him even though she felt his eyes on her the whole time. There was nothing she could tell him. Bruce knew exactly how much Clint, Laura and the kids meant to her. She told him so when they hid at his place.

"Nat, uhm..." The way he said her name and his hesitance to keep talking already told her what he wanted to say. "Maybe this isn't the best time..."

"Or maybe it's a good time." She interrupted, finally glancing up at him. "When will we have another quiet moment like this?" They had no idea when they had to go on the next 'mission'. At this point it could happen at any moment.

Bruce nodded in agreement. "I just wanted to say...I'm sorry that I left. Well, actually Hulk left and I was held hostage. Anyway, I really missed you. And if you could give me another chance..."

"You want me to give you a second chance?" Nat interrupted again, raising an eyebrow. "I thought I'm supposed to ask for this. I was was the one who forced you to Hulk out in Sokovia."

The scientist shook his head at this. "There's no reason for you to worry about this. I already forgot about it." But her skeptical look made him backpedal. "I understand why you did this. I really do. Who knows how things would've ended if you didn't make me go green. But leaving like this was unforgivable." The redhead rolled her eyes at this. "I guess I could forgive you if you promise me not to do this again."

"I promise." He said immediately and looked deadly serious at that. "Actually, I'd go a step further and promise to stay with you forever."

"Don't promise anything you can't keep, Bruce."

"Oh, I will keep this promise." And he still looked quite serious as he said this. Nat was always skeptical about promises, but maybe she could believe this one. "And there's something I wanted to tell you since you pushed me off that cliff."

"I thought you're not mad and now you bring this up again?" She joked and gave him a little grin —which was actually her first smile since Thanos. Bruce ignore it though and told her what he had in mind. "I adore you, too, Natasha. And I know things have changed, but I'd like to...try this again. If you want that too."

"This?" She asked, just to make him spell it out. "Us." He replied without hesitance this time. But a few quiet seconds later his worried expression returned. "Is there...gonna be an 'us'?" Natasha gave him a little smile. She may have tried to forget about this —him— but she's never been able to. "It never left."

Bruce returned her smile before saying something quite unexpected. "I wanna help you find Clint." The redhead raised an eyebrow, but before she could say anything he continued. "Maybe it's better when you have a little help. And maybe...we could actually find him. We need to be sure if a member of our team's gone or not. And if there's still a chance he could—"

"Thanks." She interrupted, grateful that he'd do this with her. And going away together was something they wanted to do anyway. Even if they couldn't stay away as they wanted, it's still okay for her. "I appreciate it." Nat put her head on his shoulder, just wanting to stay a little bit longer like this before going in and facing the others. Bruce responded by wrapping an arm around her and rubbing her arm in a soothing way. "We're gonna find them."

Nat nodded, having her eyes closed to enjoy this moment. She's been too desperate to find them. Maybe if Bruce was with her and helped her they could find more clues. For the first time in months she felt confident again. "I adore you."


End file.
